


Hiraeth

by shipnuggets



Series: Voltronbingo 2018 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt, First Kiss, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, Keith and Krolia bonding, M/M, Post Season 7, Sad Shiro (Voltron), Shiro grieves, Shiro visits Keith after his speech, everyone is crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 08:56:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16215710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shipnuggets/pseuds/shipnuggets
Summary: Hiraeth:"(n) a homesickness for a home you can't return to, or that never was."Another Shiro visits Keith in the hospital post s7 fic





	Hiraeth

**Author's Note:**

> I felt like rewriting my Shiro visits Keith in the hospital post s7 fic, so here it is. It changed a lot and I like it better this way.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: https://shipnuggets.tumblr.com

Keith had been watching Shiro’s speech with his mom. She brought a tv to his hospital room and sat down on the chair next to him.  
All the way through Shiro’s speech, she held Keith’s hand. As if she was afraid he was going to vaporize. Keith couldn’t help a tear streaming down his cheek while listening to the beautiful speech.  
He wiped it away quickly, before his mother could see it. She’s the strongest woman Keith has ever met and he doesn’t want to disappoint her.  
But when he looked at her, tears were streaming down her cheeks. It was weird somehow, seeing her always firm and determined face all crumpled and vulnerable. It was a side of her he hadn’t experienced yet. He’d seen a glimpse of her vulnerable side in his visions when they were trapped, but experiencing it was...touching. Keith thinks of himself as not too touchy-feely, but the sorrow clearly shimmering in her eyes moved him. 

All of a sudden, he couldn’t keep it in anymore. He felt all kind of emotions welling up that he’d suppressed for a long time. When was even the last time he cried fully, sobbing and ugly face included? The wall he has built around his hart to restrain those emotions crumbles looking at his mother’s face and he feels relieved when he feels the ticklish warmth of hot tears streaming down his cheek.  
When Krolia noticed Keith crying, she turned and wrapped her arm around his torso, keeping him close and rocking back and forth while whispering soothing words.

\---

The door to the hospital room opens. Shiro halts in the doorway, as if he isn’t sure he should enter. Keith realises he’s still crying and hugging his mom like his life depends on it. 

‘Mom’ he whispers softly.

Only then does Krolia notice Shiro. ‘Keith, I think it’s time for me to leave. Kolivan asked me to help train new Blade of Marmora members and believe me if I tell you they’ve still got a very long way to go. If I don’t keep an eye on Kolivan he might snap at their slow progress and scare all of them off.’ Krolia rises to her feet and Shiro steps aside so that Krolia can leave. When she walks past Shiro, she halts and whispers something in Shiro’s ear that Keith can’t hear. Shiro nods and Krolia pats him on the shoulder before leaving.

Keith tries to wipe his eyes in a effort to hide his vulnerability from Shiro. He knows it’s unnecessary to hide his feelings from the man who knows him through and through, but loving said man makes Keith itchy and on guard, scared to unwittingly act on his secret feelings and ruining their brotherly bond. 

His train of thoughts is interrupted when something heavy slams into his chest, making him lay down on his back under the pressure of the unmoving mass. When Shiro moves, he stretches down over Keith’s legs, his head in his lap and his arms around Keith’s torso. When they were still in the Garrison and Keith was still a boy, he would sometimes rest on top of Shiro like this. Most of those times, he was angry or sad and had done something that he got scolded for. Shiro would then slide his hand through Keith’s hair and whisper soothing words. Keith decides to do the same, thinking Shiro might need it after giving that ineffable speech. Keith slides his hand through Shiro’s soft, white hair. His hair smells faintly of shampoo and up close, there’s a silver glow to it. He continuous caressing Shiro’s hair and whisper comforting words.  


‘It’s okay Shiro. I’m so proud of you.’  


Shiro’s hands tighten around Keith’s torso and Keith feels that Shiro’s shoulders start shaking. Keith’s hand caresses the side of Shiro’s face.

‘Shh it’s alright. You can cry. Let it out Shiro. Please take your time to grief.’

Keith keeps his promise. They stay like that for hours, neither speaks and Shiro cries silently, now and then muffling a sob in Keith’s hospital gown.

\---

Now that neither Keith or Shiro has to be a strong and inspiring leader, there’s finally time for Shiro to express all his sorrow: losing Adam, being tortured, being experimented on, fighting in the arena, being cloned. But he can also take a moment to grief and be nostalgic about the loss of his old life, his body and his arm. He’s lost so much. Will he ever be able to be himself again when he’s not even physically himself anymore? Not having to worry about saving earth and the universe. Not having to be afraid of being possessed by Haggar. Not having to be afraid to hurt the ones he’s closest to. In that moment, he craves for the world to be the world it used to be, when everyone he cherishes was alive and out of danger. 

Shiro looks up at Keith, his eyes and throat dry from crying non-stop, something he hadn’t done since he was a little kid. Suddenly he’s hit with the realisation that this might be uncomfortable for Keith, considering he tried to kill him not too long ago. But when he looks at Keith’s face, his eyes are closed. Shiro notices his chest heaving slow and steady, his sleeping face looking thoroughly relaxed.  


Talking to the air, Shiro says ‘Thanks for being here for me Keith. You’re everything I’ve got and you mean the world to me. I can’t bear the thought of losing you.’

A few moments later Shiro’s breath falls into the same relaxed rhythm as Keith’s and he drifts of to a world of his own. A world in which he was never kidnapped and was still working peacefully at the Garrison. A world in which Keith wakes him up with a good morning kiss. A world in which Shiro returns home to the smell of coffee Keith’s prepared for him. A world in which he confessed his feelings towards Keith before departing on the Kerberos mission.  


When he wakes up again, he feels completely at peace. For once, he didn’t have to endure a nightmare and it’s the first time he’s slept peacefully since he left for Kerberos. Just Keith’s presence was enough for Shiro to feel safe. With a soft sigh, Keith opens his eyes. The "Morning" he mumbles is barely hearable and the domecity with which Keith nuzzles the crown of Shiro’s head makes Shiro realise that he doesn’t have to long for a time and home he’ll never be able to return to. Shiro’s accepted and retained his feelings for Keith a while before he left for Kerberos, but in this moment he realises that Keith has always been a safe place for him to return to, a home to long for when absent.

Slowly, he lifts his head and leans in, giving Keith enough time to pull back. When Keith’s only response is to rest his hand on Shiro’s neck, Shiro closes the remaining distance and lets their lips touch lightly and short. After Shiro pulls back, Keith kisses him again and as it slowly shifts into a more passionate kiss, Shiro thinks to himself that he’ll never have to long for the past anymore. Keith’s his home, like he’s always been.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr: https://shipnuggets.tumblr.com


End file.
